Evaluating the Validity and Feasibility of a Smartwatch-based Eating Detection System to Passively and Automatically Detect Eating Events in Child-parent Dyads

NCT ID: NCT07290179

Last Updated: 2025-12-24

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Total Enrollment: 35 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-12-31
• Study Completion Date: 2026-12-31

Brief Summary

This study will test the validity and feasibility of an smartwatch-based system to detect eating and drinking events in both laboratory and free-living conditions.

Detailed Description

The study will: 1) determine whether the smartwatch-based system accurately detects eating events in child-parent dyads in controlled settings and 2) evaluate the feasibility and practicality of passively detecting eating events in child-parent dyads over 3 days in free-living settings. The study will include two phases. During the laboratory visit, child-parent dyads will wear the smartwatch on their dominant hand and perform activities including eating gestures. These activities will be recorded with a video camera, and the videos will be coded for the ground truth times of eating. In the second phase of the study, child-parent dyads will continue wearing the smartwatch for 3 more days in free-living conditions. In the free-living period, parents will receive personalized Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) prompts reminding them to activate the smartwatch.

Conditions

Eating Behavior

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL

Interventions

Smartwatch and EMA-based eating behavior tracking

Participants (child-parent dyads) will wear a smartwatch on their dominant hand during a laboratory session and for three days in free-living conditions. In the lab, dyads will perform eating-related activities (e.g., eating with utensils, eating with hands, drinking) and non-eating activities (e.g., walking, writing, brushing teeth) while being video recorded for ground truth validation. Parents will receive a 20-minute training on using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) prompts to record meal and snack times and will respond to EMA reminders during the free-living period. Adherence will be monitored through smartwatch wear time and EMA response rates.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Parents or caregivers (18-70 years) who have children aged 8-12 years
• Child is willing and able to wear smartwatch during school hours (have not restrictions in the school setting)

Exclusion Criteria

• Any condition or circumstance that could impede study completion
• Child does not follow a regular eating pattern
• Child eats less than 1 meal and 1 snack in a day
• Child is restricted or allergic to the study foods
• Refusal or unable to use the smartwatch to collect data for the 3-day period in free - living conditions
• Parental refusal or unable to respond Ecological Momentary Assessment prompts

• Minimum Eligible Age: 8 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Pennington Biomedical Research Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Hanim Diktas

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Hanim E Diktas, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Central Contacts

Hanim E Diktas, PhD

Role: CONTACT

Phone: (225) 763-2832

Email: hanim.diktas@pbrc.edu

Other Identifiers

PBRC 2025-029

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id